Saurabh shines but fails to attain Oly mark

Saurabh Vij sparkled with a fine effort in shot put even as none of the competitors managed to touch the Olympic qualifying norm in the first leg of the Indian Grand Prix here on Sunday.

ONGC’s Vij came up with an effort of 19.80 metres -- his second best legal effort -- to win the gold. That was his only legal throw of the evening.

Vij had a 20.65M while winning the Delhi state championship in 2010, which however was not ratified as a national mark. 

He had an effort of 19.81M in the same year in Patiala when he finished second behind Om Prakash Singh during the Inter-State championships. 

Asian Games champion Joseph Abraham warded off a spirited challenge from his Railway team-mate Avin Thomas to win the 400M hurdles. 

Joseph triumphs

Abraham timed 51.13 finishing one-hundredths of a second faster than Thomas.Former Asian champion Renjith Maheswary won the tripel jump with a mediocre 16.38 metres, his best in almost two years.

National Games champion Ankit Sharma won the long jump (7.68M) while Karnataka’s M R Poovamma topped in the 400M in 54.60. That was the only women’s event of the evening.  

Results: 

Men: 400M: Kunhi Mohammad (SSCB) 47.11 seconds, 1; SK Murtaza (WB) 47.83s, 2; Ajay Kumar (Har) 47.99, 3.   

800M: Ravinder Rautela (UK) 1:49.11, 1; Ghamanda R (ONGC) 1:49.94, 2; Girish Ramchandran (CRPF) 1:51.25, 3.  

400M hurdles: Joseph Abraham (RSPB) 51.13, 1; Avin Thomas (RSPB) 51.14, 2; Jithin Paul (RSPB) 51.63, 3.  Long jump: Ankit Sharma (MP) 7.68M, 1; Prem Kumar (TN) 7.32, 2; Wayne Peppin (IB) 7.27, 3.  

Triple jump: M Renjith (RSPB) 16.38, 1; Dharmender Singh (Del) 13.83, 2; Navjot (Pun) 13.78, 3. 

Shot Put: Saurabh Vij (ONGC) 19.80, 1; Navin Kumar (RSPB) 13.18, 2; Ravinder Kumar (Har) 12.40, 3. 

Javelin Throw: Rajinder Singh (Pun) 71.07, 1; Samarjit Singh (Pun) 69.44, 2; Anil Singh (Del) 66.92, 3. 

Women: 400M: MR Poovamma (Kar) 54.60s, 1; Debashree Majumdar (WB) 54.86, 2; Ratander Kaur (Pun) 55.75, 3.